According to Wake County property records, Raleigh development
group Loden Properties bought the .75-acre hotel property for $5
million, plus another $1.5 million for the neighbouring restaurant
parcel. Loden Properties is owned by Russ Jones and Henry Ward, who
teamed with investors Michael and Andrew Sandman.

Russ Jones said: "I have been looking at this property for about
10 to 15 years and have chased it, although not in a very
aggressive way, and tried to contact the owner in the past. We
finally made contact late last spring."

Loden Properties has developed several hotels throughout the
Triangle and manages them through its related Davidson and Jones
Hotel Corp. The company currently manages the Sheraton Imperial
Hotel in Durham, The Aloft hotel in downtown Durham and the Hampton
Inn and Suites on Wake Forest Road in Raleigh.

The Longleaf Hotel will also feature an adjourning
restaurant.

The new restaurant, (ish) Delicatessen, is from Matt Fern, a
veteran of Raleigh's food and beverage scene, who was the beverage
director of Ashley Christensen's AC Restaurants.

When discussing the name of the restaurant, Fern said: "It's a
play on Jewish, sort of Italian, sort of Jewish deli. Delicatessen
is such a strong word. We all think we know what it means, we all
have different deli experiences growing up."

He added: "We want it to be something really informal and
playful, allowing us a lot of creative freedoms, but to be able to
riff on the classic deli dishes and be able to throw the South into
the mix as well."

The deli will be built in a stand-alone building next to the
hotel, formerly the NC Deli. Fern plans to offer breakfast, lunch
and dinner service.

He said: "I don't think independent hotels at the quality level
we are bringing survive without a dynamic food and beverage
programme. At a typical select hotel 90 percent (of
revenue) comes from rooms. At a vibrant, boutique hotel it can drop
to a ratio of 60/40 rooms to food or even 50/50. On some level we
are competing with all of the product in the market ... We are
going after the experiential traveller. Five years ago would have
been an even better (time to buy), but now anytime is good timing
for core downtown real estate. Probably now more than ever, this
area is coming into its own. People probably don't understand how
close you are to the museum and Glenwood South, which might have
felt disconnected three years ago, but you see what is happening
with Smokey Hollow and you realise it's only two blocks away."

Loden has invested heavily in the northern section of downtown
in the past year. Last year, the company bought the declining
Gateway Plaza Shopping Centre off Capital Boulevard.

Jones said: "We see this whole northern (section of downtown) as
overlooked. I mean it is a government office area, so no wonder it
has felt isolated."